Vaughan praises special day at Lord's

Former England Captain Michael Vaughan has paid tribute to the crowd at Lord's after hordes of fans attempted to catch some of the action during the 5th day of the first test between England and India.

In scenes reminiscent of the 2005 Ashes test at Old Trafford that saw a crowd of around 10,000 turned away on the final day, 20,000 tickets were made available on a first come first serve basis at 8.30 AM at Lord's, resulting in thousands queuing up from the early hours in an attempt to see the action on the decisive 5th day.

India began the day requiring a further 378 having been set a record 458 runs to win thanks to an unbeaten 162 run partnership between Matt Prior (103no) and Stuart Broad (76no) helped England declare on 269-6 to set up an enthralling final day's play.

The MCC, the owners of Lord's, have predicted that the numbers drawn to watch the action will set a new record attendance for a final day's play at the "home of cricket", surpassing the 24,000 who saw Andrew Flintoff play his last game at HQ against Australia in 2009.

Vaughan, speaking on Test Match Special, praised the efforts of the crowd, and insisted that moments like this live long in the player's memories.

He said: "The players must cherish days like this. They arrived at 9am and they saw the queues, they had an amazing ovation when they warmed up"

A large portion of the crowd were also drawn by the prospect of Sachin Tendulkar compiling his 100th international century, although they were forced to wait for the arrival of the man of the moment as the "little master" was unable to enter the action until the 3rd wicket fell after being laid low by a virus for the majority of day four.

Vaughan's co-commentator on TMS and former England international Phil Tufnell also praised the crowd, some of whom began queuing at 2.00AM - and said the day was set for Tendulkar to take centre stage.

The former spinner commented: "Every day has had something special about it, there has been a landmark - it's all set up for Tendulkar to score a hundred on the final day."

The omens aren't good however, Tendulkar's previous high score at Lord's is a lowly 37. He entered lunch unbeaten on seven with India requiring a further 316, with England chasing another six wickets having snared Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Gautam Gambhir on an engrossing morning of test cricket.